7 design principles for effective commons

First, effective management of a common requires “clearly defined boundaries” on who is allowed to appropriate from the commons and who is not.

Second, it’s necessary to establish appropriation rules restricting the time, place, technologies, and quantity of the resources that can be used as well as setting up the rules on the amount of labor, materials, and money that can be allotted to the appropriation.

Third, a commons association needs to guarantee that those affected by the appropriation rues jointly and democratically determine those rules and their modifications over time.

Fourth, the commons association should ensure that those monitoring the activity on the commons are the appropriators of are accountable to them.

Fifth, appropriators who violate the rules should, in principle, be subject to graduated sanctions by the other appropriators or officials accountable to the appropriators, to guard against overly punitive punishment that sours their future participation and creates ill will in the community.

Sixth, the commons association ought to build in procedures for rapid access to low-cost private mediation to quickly resolve conflict among appropriators or between appropriators an public officials.

Seventh, it is vital that government jurisdictions recognize and condone the legitimacy of the rules established by the commons association. If government authorities do not provide a minimum recognition of the authority of the commons association to self manage and, in effect, treat is as illegitimate, the self-rule of the commons is not likely to be able to sustain itself over time.

A near zero marginal cost communication/energy infrastructure for the Collaborative Age is now within sight. The technology needed to make it happen is already deployed. At present, it’s all about scaling up and building out.
– Jemery Rifkin.